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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



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OLD FAIR HAVEN 



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ADDITIONAL NOTES 












The sight of ye harbour did so please ye captain of ye 

ship and all ye passengers, that he called it 

the Fayre Haven.— Davcupori 






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NEW HAVEN 

Press of J. T. Hathaway, 297 Crown Street 

J916 






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SEP U 1818 



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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF OLD 
FAIR HAVEN 

By Curtis C. Bushnkll 

So far as the writer is aware, uo effort has ever been 
made to sketch the earlier history of Fair Haven, even 
as briefly as this. There is much about the place, to be 
sure, that challenges interest. Some new Robert Louis 
Stevenson might well have been attracted by the noble 
view from the Heights of the harbor, plain and moun- 
tain, by the quaint water-front with its shell-piles, oyster 
houses and sharpies, and by the vivid lore of the aged 
sea-captains. The native-born painters have actually 
arisen who have portrayed the ruddy cliffs of East Rock, 
the singularly formed and beautiful range known since 
Revolutionary times as 'the Sleeping Giant,' the broad 
salt meadows, and this unique landscape, so like in its 
elements to the world-famous Edinboro; but her histo- 
rian is still waited for by Fair Haven. When he comes, 
he may find some value in the following material from 
sources literary and oral, from old deeds, lichen-grown 
burial stones, forgotten newspapers and reminiscences of 
voyages in ships that have lain for decades miles under 
blue water. 

A geological foreword is in place here. Probably the 
most enthusiastic Fair Havener that ever admired the 
outlook from the Heights would be satisfied to have the 
history of the locality begun with the red sandstone 
which extends vertically downward for three miles be- 
neath his feet. That would be to begin eight or nine mil- 
lion years ago, though the. region was unspeakably an- 



cient even Ihen. An observer in those days could have 
seen no harbor, no plain, no Rock, no meadows, no 
'Sleeping Giant;' perhaps the waters had not even enter- 
ed the old river valleys to form the Sound. Instead, 
there was a broad depression to which the uplands, east 
and west, contributed their sediments. In a semi-arid 
climate, like that of Wyoming today, a sparse vegetation 
of conifers, tree-ferns and palm-like cycads depended for 
existence on occasional torrential rains. Across the sed- 
iments in search of herb or flesh for food ran or leaped 
swift kangaroo-shaped dinosaurs, of all sizes from the 
diminutive young to the giant adults; their bird-like 
footprints have been kept by the sediments while the 
models of the Peabody Museum make them real to our 
imagination. 

Then came the period when molten lavas of trap-rock 
were forced up through fissures in the sandstone. These 
hardened, and stood at last, when sculpturing rain had 
chiseled away the adjacent stone, as the precipices of 
East Rock. Later came the ice of the great glacier and 
the reindeer whose bones have been found at Quinnipiac. 
Swollen by the melting of this ice the rivers built the 
plain of Fair Haven, and at a later date, with their silt, 
filled deep and far-inreaching waters to make the mead- 
ows. 

The Indian village that was the predecessor of Fair 
Haven lay half way between Ferry street bridge and 
Granuiss Corner. It was on a trail which was a main 
highway long before European settlement. The course 
of this trail is followed by Farren avenue. 

Europeans first took possession of Fair Haven in 1640, 
almost as early as any section of this coast. In that year 
this district, designated as the 'Necke,' or peninsula, 
was occupied for tillage in large farms by families bear- 



ing names still represented among us, such as Atwater, 
Mansfield and others. The name of the 'Necke' has 
come down to us in 'Neck Bridge,' as the State street 
bridge is sometimes called. 

The district was also in those early days known as 
the 'Farmes' or the 'East Farmes.' These families, 
though few in number, desired a partial independence, 
and in 1679 were constituted a separate village, the 
name being 'the village on the sides of the East River,' 
or 'the East side village.' The term 'village' simply 
meant the scattered farms, the settlement by the river 
being much later. About 1680 came the first 'Neck 
Bridge,' a hundred 3'ears before any other Fair Haven 
bridge. 

In 1784 the village became a part of New Haven city, 
to withdraw again in 1837. The final union came in 1870. 

Also in 1784 the first bridge at Grand avenue was 
built, replacing an old ferry. It had a draw at the west 
end and many abutments. There were no sidewalks for 
pedestrians. It became much out of repair, with holes 
in the planking into which vehicles occasionally got. 
About 1 86 1 it was replaced by a bridge with no draw, 
but with fewer abutments, and with sidewalks separated 
from the roadway b}- light iron bars. This bridge lasted 
for 36 years, or until the time of the present drawbridge. 

The main highway to the east in 1785 ran straight 
from Neck Bridge to this bridge. 

About 600 feet south of the bridge, on the east side of 
the river, lay Dragon Point, so called from the seals that 
sunned themselves upon it. The bridge was therefore 
called Dragon Bridge, and was a landmark by which 
points in the neighborhood were located. Thus J. Rowe's 
tavern (still standing at 182 North Front street) was 
described in 1814 as at Dragon Bridge. The bridge per- 



haps existed before the oystering settlement, and must 
anyhow have given it a powerful impetus. From bridge 
and point the settlement took a name which unofficially 
survived till 1877, 'Dragon.' In 1850 the place was 
sometimes called 'Fair Dragon.' 

We find the name of 'Fair Haven' thoroughly estab- 
lished by 1827, having been chosen at a public meeting 
not long before. The first captain to visit the settle- 
ment of Quinnipiac, almost 190 years before this time, 
was so taken with its beauty that he called it the 'Fayre 
haven,' and the 'Fair Haven Church', which stood on the 
site of the United Church and was attended by the Drag- 
onites, had kept the name alive. (Probably in the name 
of this church Fair Haven w^as felt as an alternative name 
for New Haven.) The name was therefore familiar as 
well as appropriate, and the more acceptable, as adding 
yet another to the little group of 'Havens' about the bay. 

It is interesting to note that New York, Vermont and 
Michigan, as well as Connecticut, have each a Fair Ha- 
ven near a New Haven. 

The river also has had several names — 'East River,' 
'Quinnipiac,' 'Dragon River,' 'Wallingford River,' and 
now 'Quinnipiac' once more. 

The 'founder of Fair Haven,' according to a monu- 
ment in the Fair Haven Union Cemetery, was a certain 
Heman Hotchkiss. He built the first house in Fair Ha- 
ven about 1790, on the site now occupied by the Advent- 
ist church. This house, much remodelled, still stands 
and is on the north side of Chatham street, three houses 
from the corner of North Front. 

By 1808 there were about 50 houses including John 
Rowe's tavern, and about 150 inhabitants, supported 
mostly by oystering. In this year Nathaniel Granniss 
gave a site for a school, while Stephen Rowe gave 



ground for a cemetery. In 1814 a long red brick school- 
house was built on the Granniss site. This served also 
for the neighborhood prayer meetings. 

In 18 15 a battle between the longshoremen and the 
Yale students was fouglit in and about the tavern. This 
w^as an incident in a long warfare, of which the young 
ladies of Fair Haven were the occasion. The young 
women had a wide reputation for attractiveness, while 
the longshoremen safe-guarded their own interests, and 
for fifty years disputed the incursions of outsiders by all 
means short of murder. A dance was to be held in the 
tavern. A small party of students sent out to reconnoiter 
were, except one or two, captured by the oystermen and 
locked up there. The survivors of the party brought the 
news to the college, which, under a leader (elected for 
such occasions and called the 'Bully'), was soon in full 
force about the tavern. The Bully forced his way in, 
subdued three antagonists at once, and the prisoners 
were triumphantly rescued. 

July 31, 1827, was long remembered in the village for 
the drowning of four boys in the river near the island. 

In 1830 the Fair Haven Congregationalists, who had 
previously worshiped in East Haven or at the United 
Church, built upon the Granniss gift the First Congre- 
gational (or 'Old Brick') Church, with a spire, which 
after 1844 was used for a clock tower. This was a large 
structure. The interior had a high pulpit, two side aisles 
and side and rear galleries. The music was supplied by 
a choir of stringed instruments, Joshua Pearl, the mas- 
ter of the Academy, being chorister. The basement 
served as a school room and for school meetings. 

The church was used as a house of worship for 23 
j-ears, and then for a dozen years as a public hall. About 
1864 it was remodeled to become the Grand avenue (then 



Graud street) School, and was finally replaced b}- the 
Strong School. 

The Methodists built their first church in 1833 and 
their second in 1835. The present structure is their third 
house of worship. 

The First Church people later built a chapel near the 
church, on a site through which the roadway of Perkins 
street now passes. In 1853 this was moved to stand be- 
hind the new First Church. It was moved again in 1877, 
and is now a dwelling house on Middletown avenue. 

About 1836 better educational facilities were provided 
by means of the Fair Haven Academy, which stood till 
1885 on Clinton avenue, midway between Pine and Grand 
streets. The first master was Joshua Pearl. Many stu- 
dents came from a distance, and these boarded with Mr. 
Pearl. It is said that Horace Greeley's wife was at one 
time a student at the academ3\ Mr. Pearl's residence 
was on the site now occupied by the Home for the Friend- 
less, and had previously been the first parsonage. The 
second master was a Mr. Rogers, noted for a violent tem- 
per. His chastisements are vividly remembered by some 
of the oldest residents of the place. The victims were 
sure to receive handsome presents afterward. 

In 1838 Fair Haven had 1000 inhabitants. Lambert's 
History of New Haven Colony has a drawing of the 
West Side as it appeared at that time. The square tower 
of the Academy is seen between the spires, each built in 
several stories, of the 'Old Brick' and the Methodist 
churches. These buildings have all been removed. The 
Grand avenue bridge is shown, and just below it a large 
vessel is discharging a cargo intended for storage in the 
building now occupied by Salisbury. East Pearl and 
South Front streets are well lined with houses. No 
buildings stand on the river side of vSouth Front; indeed 



the tide often came up into the street, and the bowsprits 
of vessels might extend com])letely across it. There 
were no docks, but the shell piles opposite the houses 
show the use to which the high basements were put. 
Ballast for vessels was taken from adjacent shores, and 
the large excavation behind Central Hall is a proof of 
the preeminent importance of the landing below the 
bridge. 

The large vessels were engaged in distant trade, espe- 
cially that in oysters with Chesapeake Bay, or in carry- 
ing merchandise to the West Indies, with return cargoes 
of sugar, molasses or pineapples. 

The first oyster boats on the river were square ended 
batteaux. An improvement were the canoes, of which 
there were two importations from Cayuga Lake — one in 
1832 and another in 1837. A canoe was worth $50. Shar- 
pies did not come in till later, being introduced by an 
Austin, who is said to have invented them. The second 
sharpie was built by James Goodsell, who improved the 
model. These beautiful boats are not especially seawor- 
thy, but are light, swift, capacious and exactly adapted 
to our waters. From here they were introduced to the 
Virginia and North Carolina coasts, where they are 
extensively used. 

In October, just before the law on the taking of oysters 
would be off, great numbers of people from inland would 
gather in Fair Haven. The next day the river w'ould be 
so full of boats that one might walk along its surface 
dry shod from Dragon bridge to Red Rock (Ferry street 
bridge) by stepping from boat to boat. The oysters were 
picked over and the smaller ones thrown away to die. 
Nevertheless, in spite of this utter wastefulness, the 
wonderful beds lasted for many years. 

The villagers' fondness for a practical joke was great, 



and the visitors did not alwaj-s get away witliout some 
experience of it. For- example, a boat would vanish and 
after a long search would be found up in the top of a 
tree. Many good stories are told along the shore, which 
in print must go without the names, as that of the old 
captain who, as he sat in the back room of the grocery, 
insisted on monopolizing the paper, and even after he 
went to sleep, held it fast; the boys set the paper on fire. 

Mrs. E. C. M. Hall has in her possession the Constitution and Re- 
cords for 1842-49 of the Ladies' Home Missionary Association of the 
First Congregational Church. The first meeting was held at the house 
of Captain Davis, Sept. 29, 1842, with the following officers: 

President, Mrs. M. R. Barnes; Secretary, Mrs. O. C. Wheaton; 
Managers, Mrs. N. H. Linsley, Mrs.L. C. B. Keep. 

April I, 1843, the association paid $152 for blinds, oilcloth and car- 
pets for the church. Dec. 7, 1847, it joined with the other Ladies' Be- 
nevolent Association to hold a fair at the chapel with the purpose of 
'reducing the debt now resting on the same.' As a result $165 was 
paid to a building committee composed of Horace Barnes, John S. 
Farren and Augustus Y. Conklin. 

The officers of the association in 1848 were: 

President, Mrs. James Broughton; Secretary and Treasurer, Miss 
Frances Wheaton; Directresses, Mrs. Orrit Wheaton, Mrs. Jared Mal- 
lory, Mrs. Wyllis Hemingway. 

i 
In 1852 came the Shore Line Railroad with its lofty 

trestle. 

In 1853, Rev. Burdett Hart of the First Congregational 
Society being the prime mover, a new church was built 
in front of the cemetery, the spire of which was 234 feet 
high, the loftiest in the State. It was a conspicuous land- 
mark for sailors until 1877 when it was removed as no 
longer safe. 

In the same year (1853) the Second Congregational 
Church was formed from the First, and the Third, a short- 
lived church, had soon separated from the Second. Its 
place of worship was wliat is now known as Central Hall. 



The winter of 1856 was terribly rigorous, sleighs cross- 
ing the Sound on the ice from vStratford Point to Port 
Jefferson. For our busy little port these conditions meant 
wreck and death. 

In the Civil War there was a military camp on Grape- 
vine Point. 

In 1870 at its union with the city of New Haven the 
village had 5600 inhabitants and had extended back from 
the Quinnipiac river to Blatchley avenue. The next de- 
cade saw the district betw^een this and Mill river well 
filled with dwellings. 

Barber, in his History and Antiquities of New Haven, p. 197, says 
of Fair Haven in 1870: 

'The leading business of the place is the oyster trade, and numerous 
vessels are employed in the business, which is said to be carried on to 
a greater extent in this place than any other in the United States, with 
perhaps the exception of BaUi4Hore. To this latter place many who 
have their residence in Fair Haven resort to carry on their business. 
During the winter months oysters are brought to Fair Haven from va- 
rious places, principally from Virginia. In 186S about 95 cargoes, 
comprising about 400,000 bushels, were brought here, and great quan- 
tities are laid down in beds, which much improves their flavor. Con- 
siderable attention is also given to the culture of the oyster in the 
harbor. They are exported to all parts of our country, to Canada, 
West Indies and other parts of the world.' 

This year of 1870 witnessed along with the union of Fair Haven 
with the City, that of the Fair Haven and New Haven school districts. 
The Fair Haven school officers of this year were: 

Board of Education— Jas. P. Smith, F. D. Kellogg, Alfred Thomas, 
Luther Ives, John C. Bradley, Thomas D. Jones, H. W. Broughton, 
Samuel Hemingway, Charles C. Blatchley. 

President of the Board — James P. Smith. 

Clerk of the District— E. P. Goodsell, Jr. 

Secretary of the Board — Curtis S. Bushnell. 

School Superintendent — Curtis S. Bushnell. 

Treasurer of the District — Lyman Woodward. 

Collector of the District— Cortez Watson. 



ro 



At this time there were about 650 children in the two biiildiugs, the 
old Academy and the Grand Street School. The indebtedness of the 
district was $6000. The teachers were: 

H. W. Avery, Principal; Catherine E. Hilliard, Nellie B. Morse, 
Harriet E. Clark, Emma C. Woodward, Lottie D. Butler, Attie E. 
Clark, Jennie E. Avery, Josephine A. Clark, Maria L. Breen, H. Maria 
Woodford, M. J. Warren. 

The following passage from the last annual report (1870) of the Fair 
Haven School District will recall to many even now a gracious per- 
sonality: 

Sratti of a 3Irarl|pr. 

The shadows of death have fallen upon our teachers' circle. By the 
death of Miss Hattie E. Clark, of Room No. 7, in the Graded School, 
we mourn the loss of one, eight years of whose life were devoted to 
the duties of a teacher among us. Her genial courtesy, her conscien- 
tious and earnest devotion to the work in which she was engaged, the 
friendly afTection of her pupils, the warm and kind regard in which 
she was held by her associates, who affectionately draped in mourning 
the place of her last labors on earth, have left many pleasant memo- 
ries of this devoted and successful teacher. 

The writer has now covered the period of which it was 
his intention to speak. Some of the most important of 
the Fair Haven family names should certainly be sub- 
joined, as the Hemingways, Rowes, Tuttles, Smiths, 
Bradleys, Mansfields, Goodsells, Grannises, and Mal- 
lorys. Also something more should be said of the 
shipping interests, particularly the foreign trade. 

The magnitude of those interests is shown by the fact 
that in 1856 the First Church had 48 sea captains as 
members of its congregation, many of whom now lie bur- 
ied behind the towering spire that overlooks 300 square 
miles of salt water. 

Many of them followed the sea from childhood; often 
on ships built in their own port. There is therefore a 
particular appropriateness in the emblems upon the mon- 
uments in the cemetery; the anchor, the hawser, the ship 
under full sail. It was truly a perilous profession, as is 



shoAvn V)y the legends on the monuments, such as 'lost at 
sea,' 'wrecked on Abaco,' 'in the sea his body sleeps,' 
'the sea shall give up its dead.' Ice, fire, collision, rock 
and hurricane, all took their toll of the fleet. The most 
successful of all the captains lost three ships before the 
tide of his prosperity began to flow in. 

One of the thrilling disasters was suffered l)y Captain 
John A. Hardy on the schooner C. J. Van Name, a vessel 
which for the sake of speed had been built extremely 
sharp and was over sparred. 

Captain H. was outward bound to Cuba, and had as 
passengers a Cuban boy and girl who had been at school 
in New York. On the deck were four pieces of scantling. 
In the night it blew heavily, and though the wind went 
down, the sea continued heavy. About four in the morn- 
ing three great waves struck the vessel, and she went 
down so quickly that the girl, who was asleep, and the 
.steward, who had rushed below to warn her, both went 
down with her. The small boat also was carried down, 
leaving nothing floating but a rope fender and four 
scantlings, each i8 feet long and six inches by six. The 
Cuban, who was an expert swimmer, secured the fender, 
which the crew unraveled, and with the rope lashed the 
scantlings into a raft. They were now hundreds of miles 
out at sea, without food or water except as they sucked 
it from their rain-soaked clothes. The sea steadily broke 
over the raft. In a few hours the sharks found them. 
One big fellow who nosed closely at them, got a knife in 
his shoulder, with which he went off, and the other 
sharks, seeing the blood, went off also in pursuit of him. 
All the castaways expected to perish and be eaten by the 
sharks, but on the third day a schooner was seen. They 
lifted up one of their number as high as they could and 
he waved his jacket. The captain of the schooner was 



12 



astonislied to see in mid-oceau a number of men appar- 
ently standing upon the water without support. As the 
vessel approached, the men upon the raft thought she 
would run them down, but she came up beside them with 
beautiful seamanship, threw lines, and they were soon 
on board, were taken to Panama and assisted home. 

Capt. Hardy was twice wrecked after that, on one occa- 
sion cutting the small boat away only just as the vessel 
lurched under. He was never able to swim a stroke, yet 
he lived to die on land at a good old age. 

Captain James H. Woodhouse of Perkins street in his 
77th year wrote and privately printed a remarkable auto- 
biography, giving the history of his voyages from 1838 
to 1874. He had built nearly 40 vessels, had been ordi- 
nary seaman, mate and master. His longest voyage was 
on a whaler out of New Bedford, and lasted nearly four 
years. The time element did not seem to count. Nothing 
was thought of running 2000 miles to the Azores to add 
a couple of men to the crew. They were six months at 
sea before they saw any whales, and these they could not 
take because of the heavy weather. The voyage was 
along nearly the same track as that described in Dana's 
'Two Years Before the Mast,' and this graphic book of 
Captain Woodhouse is a good companion to that classic. 
The narrative is diversij5ed by such episodes as the tak- 
ing of terrapin at the Galapagos Isles, climbing of 8000 
foot peaks in Otaheite, and the putting in for water at the 
valley of skeletons between Chili and Peru. Here a Pe- 
ruvian army, encamped in a valley surrounded on two 
sides by giant and impassable spurs of the Andes and on 
a third side by the ocean, were surprised by the Chilians 
coming from the land side. No mercy was shown. The 
Peruvians all perished and the skeletons were left to cover 
the ground for a long distance inland. The most excit- 



13 



ing story of the captain's many voyages tells of escaping 
from the Spaniards when they tried to detain his ship 
under the charge of carrying arms to the Cuban revolu- 
tionists. He ran close under a Spanish fort, outsailed a 
coast guardship, and when pursued by a steam frigate 
took advantage of the misty weather to alter his course, 
so sending the frigate about 200 miles down the coast on 
a fruitless chase. A year later on he was placed on the 
list of those gratuitously pardoned by Queen Isabella as 
an expression of her gratitude to Heaven for the birth 
of Don Alphonso. 

[The reader who has been sufficiently interested to come so far in 
the narrative will excuse an Old Fair Havener for concluding it with 
an endeavor to express his sentiments toward his native place in 
verse that is at least heart-felt. It is not the Fair Haven of the pres- 
ent day that is in mind, but the remembered Fair Haven of 1880.] 

THE LAND OF THE HEART 

Where once I went, like a lad to his play, 
To stray and to strive in the cities of men, 
I would wander back by the wending way 
To come to the Land of the Heart again. 

Boyhood to Manhood with gesture gay 

Beckons, I follow; the way is good 

With him and Morn through the pleasant wood — 

Oh, there's song in the bough and there's dew on the spray. 

Through the pleasant wood to the lookout trees 
Where the valley sinks and the soul is still; 
Something holy like Sabbath peace 
Seems here, as I gaze from the quiet hill. 

Yonder there see the lone Rock rear 
Ruddy cliffs in the morning sky ! 
Under, the scenes to boyhootl dear 
Steeped in the freshness of dawning lie. 



14 



There is the City ! and there the strand ! 
And the haven fair where the tides are met 
By waters sweet from the inner land: 
And there is the Giant sleeping yet. 

To the blue far Peak, and the Northern skies 

Green meadows reach in a grassy floor; 

Below us the Village lines either shore 

Of the white-capped wave where the sea-gull flies. 

And well do I know each home where the trees 
Like a lake of green the plain embower; 
And well do I know the square church-tower 
Far-seen by the sailor bound home from the seas; 

And well I know who behind it lie, 

Those whom I forget not or far or near — 

But the school-clock strikes, and the moments fly; 

And the waters are calling from wharf and pier. 

With flooring of plank and buttress of stone 
A bridge o'er the narrow billow is thrown; 
It weds the shores like a marriage ring 
And Fair Haven's sundered halves are one. 

There are times of beauty ! but seek not here 
When the tide runs low with the mid-day near, 
When the stakes are a-quiver in the hurrying river 
Like things that suffer, or things that fear. 

But come with the night when the clustering 
Of the glittering squadrons mustering 
Breaks in starry surge on the deeps of Heaven, 
Or come when the day is westering. 

To Youth and Pleasure the upper flow 
Of the stream belongs: to the Island row 
The shouting lads; light laughs from the wave; 
The free, glad winds o'er the meadows go. 

But southward encroaching hills and piers 
Constrain the darkened current, that bears 
The outbound shipping as Manhood grave 
Its burden toward seas of the endless years. 



^5 



How all has come hack ! There the Cricket floats 
83- King's old dock, no siglit so fair 
In the summer morn, beloved of boats. 
And what ! Is it Albert and Lewie there ? 

'Hey ! fellows. You've brought the lunch along 
For a row up the river ? Oh, yes, I see. 
How queer that we're boys ! We've been men so long ! 
But it's fine ! It is just as it used to be !' 

'And the tide's high, and the breeze is strong. 
And the swimming grand as grand can be, 
And, supposing the turn at the oar seems long, 
We won't ever grumble, no, boys, not we!' 

'And wheh it is night we will climb the lane 
With the jingling oarlocks, and from the damp 
Of the dark gaze in through the window-pane 
On Father and Mother and evening lamp.' 

Ah 1 the vision is closed, for the stern To-day 
Locks the heart's lost land behind portals fast; 
'Twere a feebler bar if across the way 
The mountain-chains of a world were cast. 

And yet I am sure on some Future fair 
Those gates shall open with evening star, — 
And there the mates of my boj'hood are. 
And Father and Mother and God are there ! 

Fair Haven Heights, August i, 1916. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES 

By J. T. Hathaway. 

In 1855 an attempt was made to establish a newspaper 
in the village, and from that date until i860, The Fair 
Haven Tribune made its regular weekly appearance. 
(The paper is now only remembered by a few aged persons 
who made kites of it when they were boys.) Under the 
heading of the paper was the motto, 'An Independent 
Press for an Independent People.' The editor in his 
salutatory said that the paper would be independent in 
politics, and neutral as far as neutrality did not conflict 
with manly independence. 

The Tribune was a respectable looking sheet and com- 
pared favorably with other papers of the State. No paper 
was of more than four pages then, and Sunday papers 
and sporting pages and glaring advertisements were un- 
known. While the Tribune contained the general news 
of the day it was somewhat of a literary paper also. 
Many beautiful things appeared in it which have become 
classics now. The first productions from the pen of Rev. 
W. H. H. Murray were first published in the Fair Haven 
Tribune. Miss Elizabeth G. Barber was another con- 
tributor. She was the daughter of John W. Barber the 
historian. The passing of this lady from the scenes of 
earth was extremely sad. She married a sea captain and 
accompanied him on a voyage to China. When the ves- 
sel was homeward bound she died of cholera and was 
buried in the China Sea. 

The Tribune did good service in advocating better ed- 
ucational facilities, the introduction of gas into the vil- 
lage, the building of a new bridge over the Quinnipiac, 



17 



and other iinpruvciiKait.s. George W. Granniss wrote 
interesting- letters from California when the gold seekers 
and undesirable characters of all degrees were flocking 
to that distracted country, and when the vigilance com- 
mittee reigned supreme. Rev. Burdett Hart, in his search 
of renewed health, contributed letters from the West and 
from Europe under the heading of 'Western Waif,' and 
'Homeward Drift.' 

There w^as not so much attention paid to local news in 
the fifties as at the present day. Some of the local affairs 
that occupy so much space in some of the papers now was 
considered too insignificant to notice. 

One day, when the editor was seated at his desk, a lit- 
tle man came bustling into the room with the salutation, 
'I am Signor Blitz; you know me.' It was the world- 
renowned magician himself. He called to make inquir- 
ies about a hall in which to give one of his wonderful 
entertainments, but not succeeding in securing one, the 
villagers missed a rare treat. 

The most enjoyable entertainments given in the old 
Brick Church in the fifties were the unique concerts of the 
Continental Vocalists, who made frequent visits to the 
village. The original company consisted of Franklin, 
Smith, Huntington and Frisbie. They dressed in the 
old Continental uniform, and they sang old songs, such 
as Twenty Years Ago, Robin Ruff, Long lyong Ago, 
Be Kind to the Loved Ones at Home, and other old songs 
that awakened the memory of bygone days. 

The Tribune circulated in many States, east, north, 
south, and as far west as the Golden Gate. A gentle- 
man from this section found it on the counter in a store 
in a remote town in Texas. 'How did you get this paper 
here?' he asked the proprietor. 'Why there is a young 
man here who takes it." 'Where is he? T want to see him.' 



i8 



The paper had many warm friends in the village, who 
looked for its weekly visits with pleasure. A prominent 
New Haven merchant wrote the editor, 'I would rather 
miss a good dinner than miss the. Fair Haven Tribune. 
While the paper was appreciated at home, in some other 
parts of the country it was not esteemed so highly. 

In 1859, when John Brown stirred up the smouldering 
fires of the irrepressible conflict between Freedom and 
Slavery, a postmaster down in Virginia returned a copy 
of the Tribune that came to his office for a subscriber, 
with the cheerful intelligence, 'Your paper has been or- 
dered to be burned by the J. P.' About the same time a 
subscriber in Alabama wrote, 'Don't send me any more 
papers.' He was in danger of being mobbed. 

From these incidents it would seem that the Fair Haven 
Tribune was a paper of some importance as well as influ- 
ence In pro-slavery days northern editors considered it 
a great honor to have their papers indicted at the south 
as incendiary publications. 

Some of the lads who served as carriers on the Tribune 
in those years of long ago, did good service for their 
country in the great rebellion. One of them, Edwm 
Pierpont received a medal for bravery at Fort Wagner. 
The oyster business was probably at its zenith when 
our village paper was launched upon the stormy sea of 
adversity The following article which appeared m one 
of the early numbers may be of interest to the present 
generation: 

Many people think of our village as nothing more or less when it 
was yclepted Dragon-a name which to those who are unacquainted 
with its curious origin has a twang of badness about it which we utter, 
ly repudiate. In those times oysters enough were taken out of the 
native bed to furnish several very good suppers of an evening. The 
people did not suffer from the lack of them in their homes Occasion- 
allv an enterprising man navigated a wheelbarrow load of the bivalves 



19 



to the neighboring city; or a solitary knight-errant went forth into 
the remote regions of Wallingford or Durham, with himself and two 
kegs of the interesting articles balanced after the manner of John 
Gilpin's jugs on the back of his redoubtable steed. The business has 
increased some since then. 

The old beds in our river and down in our harbor are pretty much 
exhausted. Our navigators have explored out at Fire Island and Egg 
Harbor, and have gone down on the coast to Virginia, and they are 
doing quite a business, as the plain figures indicate. 

Last year 77 vessels, the united tonnage of which was 9,130 tons, 
were entered on the books of a single office in the village, all engaged 
in this trade. Probably there were at least enough more in the same 
trade to make the whole number at the height of the season, 100 ves- 
sels of between 11,000 and 12,000 tons. In the 77 vessels referred to 
above were brought 644,000 bushels of oj'sters. In the whole number, 
say 825,000 bushels: The English folks thought they were doing a 
large thing in that line when they brought 14,000 or 15,000 bushels of 
oysters to London in a year, employing 200 vessels of small tonnage 
to accomplish it. Atone time 30 vessels have been known to be afloat 
at our wharves, containing more than 70,000 bushels of oysters. It is 
not uncommon to see 10 or 20 vessels lying in the river at the same 
time, having arrived together from the southern trip. We suppose it 
takes 500 men to man these 100 vessels. 

How many persons are employed in loading them, in the Chesa- 
peake and elsewhere during the winter season, we cannot even guess. 
They are deli\'ered in baskets, from small boats, by men of various 
shades of color — native American, native Africo-American, and for- 
eigners, and are paid for in hard American coin. 

As nearly as we can make it out, 800 persons are employed by the 
firms or individuals, who hire from 15 to 80 hands each in opening 
the oysters in this village. Then there are probably 200 more who are 
not thus hired, making a total of 1000 persons who find employment 
in this department of the business. Mrs. B. said to us a day or two 
since, that she had opened 108 quarts in 8 j^ hours. Some will do even 
more than this. From 60 to 75 persons are probably employed in 
putting up into cans and kegs and shipping the opened oysters. How 
many more are engaged in distributing them with teams and deliver- 
ing them at railroad stations and elsewhere, we cannot say; enough 
to make the village lively when they are at work. 

Six tin shops are engaged in making cans for this business. A sin- 
gle factory in the \'illage made, during the j'ear ending April, 1855, 



20 



275.000 oyster kegs, and soldi during the same time, 302,000. 16,000 
can and keg boxes were made at the same establishment. About 
200,000 kegs are annually made in Cheshire for this market. 

In the fall of the year wild pigeons used to come in con- 
siderable numbers to the woods on the east side of the 
river, to feed on the cedar berries. Some of the villagers 
had stands or stages erected there and reaped quite a 
harvest of the wild birds. Pigeons could be bought in 
the village markets for $1.00 a dozen. 

A National Calamity. 

In 1865 the writer had charge of the mechanical depart- 
ment of the New Haven Palladium. Shortly after he 
entered the office on the morning after Good Friday, 
Henry Peck, an occasional writer on the paper, came 
down from the editorial room and remarked, 'Some of 
the passengers that came on the late train last night say 
the President has been killed. I will go otxt and see 
about it.' He went otit to the telegraph office and came 
back in a few minutes and said, 'Yes — they have killed 
the President.' We could hardly take Mr. Peck's report 
seriously, but were soon obliged to do so, by the arrival 
of other persons connected with the paper, who confirmed 
the report. 

Col. William M. Grosvenor was one of the editors of 
the Palladium at that time. He soon made his appear- 
ance and preparation was made to get out an edition of 
the paper, which was not as easy a matter in those days 
as it is now. The first edition bore the announcement: 
'vStartling News! President Lincoln and Secretary vSew- 
ard Assassinated! Death of the President!' 

The excitement and grief caused by this great calam- 
ity was most intense. One man came in the office and 
said, 'Well, we have Andy Johnson left, and if they kill 



him, we have Lafayette Foster.' Mr. Foster was Senator 
from Connecticut, and at that time. President of the 
Senate. He now became acting Vice President. He was 
a person of a great deal of dignity. 

Six editions of the Palladium were issued that day. 
The amount of telegraphic material that came over the 
wires from Washington and other points, was amazing. 
Col. Grosvenor was completely swamped by it. After 
he had used what he could, he tied up a great pile of 
manifold for his colleague, and labeled it, 'A drowning 
man's legacy to his unfortunate successor.' 

Rev. John S. C. Abbott. 

In one of the latest editions of the paper it was an- 
nounced that the Rev. J. S. C. Abbott would preach a 
sermon the next day at the Howe Street Church, on the 
Assassination of President Lincoln. We had a great de- 
sire to hear Mr. Abbott. We had read portions of his 
History of Napoleon as it was being published in Har- 
per's Magazine in the 50s and were charmed with it. 

The next afternoon we walked to the city from Fair 
Haven to hear Mr. Abbott. ( Street cars did not run Sun- 
days fifty 3'ears ago.) There was quite a crowd assem- 
bled in front of the church waiting for the doors to open. 
The Howe Street Church was a small church located at 
the corner of Howe and Martin streets. When the doors 
were opened, we took a seat in the gallery, where we 
could have a good view of the speaker. The pulpit was 
draped with the American flag. Mr. Abbott was a very 
pleasing person in appearance, of medium height, and 
about 60 years of age. His hair was dark and his whisk- 
ers white. 

Before he began to speak Mr. Abbott came to the front 
of the pulpit and motioned to some one in the audience. 



22 



A gentleman rose and came forward, and was welcomed 
in the pulpit. It was Deacon Smith, a person well known 
in religious circles in those days. 

Mr. Abbott paid an eloquent tribute to Lincoln: 

Noble Abraham ! True descendant of the Father of the Faithful; 
honest in every trust, humble as a child, tender hearted as a woman, 
who could not bear to injure even his most envenomed foes, who in 
the hour of triumph was saddened lest the feelings of his adversaries 
should be wounded by their defeat, with charity for all, malice toward 
none, endowed with common sense intelligence never surpassed, and 
with powers of intellect which enabled him to grapple with the most 
gigantic opponents in debate, developing abilities as a statesman 
which won the gratitude of his country and the admiration of the 
world, and with graces of amability which drew to him all generous 
hearts; dies by the buUet of an assassin ! 

Mr. Abbott compared Grant to Napoleon, and Sheridan 
to Napoleon's great cavalry officer, Murat. When he 
came to speak of the new President, Andrew Johnson, 
he said, 'Now, let us be careful what we say.' 

Governor Buckingham in his Fast Day Proclamation 
had said that 'the oath of a high office had been taken 
with a stammering tongue,' which was a pretty hard rap 
at Johnson. It created a sensation. It was claimed by 
some of Johnson's friends that he was a temperate, if not 
a temperance man. Mr. Abbott took the precaution not 
to add any more fuel to the flames. 

In 1861 Mr. Abbott came from Brunswick, Maine, to 
New Haven to accept the pastorate of the Howe Street 
Church. He continued to fill the pulpit until Feb. 12, 
1866, a period of nearly five years- During that time, in 
addition to his pastoral duties, he wrote and published 
his History of the Civil War, a work of over 1 100 large 
octavo pages. The first volume was issued in 1862 and 
the second late in 1865. 

In 1866 Mr. Abbott visited Europe to obtain material 



23 



for his History of Napoleon Third. Soon after this he 
purchased the house on the corner of Poplar and Grand 
streets, and moved to Fair Haven, where he lived the re- 
mainder of his life. Here he wrote and published that 
work in a large and exhaustive volume. 

When the First Church was without a pastor, Mr. 
Abbott filled the pulpit for several months, very accept- 
ably to the congregation — always interested in his ser- 
mons. He had a pleasing and graceful delivery. His 
sermons were interspersed with beautiful illustrations — 
historical, rural and from scenes and incidents of every 
day life, and were free of verbiage. 

Mr. Abbott was a genial, kind hearted Christian gen- 
tleman. In one of the evening meetings of which he had 
charge, he said that a few nights before he found a man 
trying to break into his cellar, thinking there was some 
lager beer in there. He took him by the collar, spoke 
harshly to him and threatened to have him arrested. If 
he should meet that man now he would humbly ask his 
pardon for treating him so roughly. 

In 1870 Mr. Abbott became acting pastor of the Second 
Church in Fair Haven, and continued in that relation for 
about four years. During that time nearly 200 members 
were added to the church. There was quite a strife 
among the younger members as to who should have the 
honor of paying for the carriage to convey Mr. Abbott 
to and from chureh. 

Mr. Abbott was a ready and voluminous writer, with 
a style as lucid and graceful as that of Goldsmith and 
Irving. He was the author of many books, mostly of a 
historical character, which have had a large sale. He 
had the faculty of making history interesting. His great- 
est work is the History of Napoleon Bonaparte, which 
is a model biography of a wonderful man. This work 



24 



iscontaiued in two large octavo volumes of 1277 pages. It 
occupied his careful attention and study for four years, 
and is an enduring monument to the memory of its gifted 
author. It first appeared in Harper's Magazine in the 
50s, and attracted wide attention and some criticism. Of 
all the biographies of the Great Captain that were ever 
written this is the most graphic and entertaining, and of 
fascinating interest. It shows Napoleon in his true light, 
and proves him not to have been the cruel tyrant that 
has been represented bj^ English writers. 

In the preface to that work the author said: 'The 
history of Napoleon has often been written by his ene- 
mies. This narrative is from the pen of one who reveres 
and loves the Emperor. The writer admires Napoleon 
because he abhorred war, and did every thing in his 
power to avert that dire calamity; because he merited 
the sovereignty to which the suffrage of a grateful nation 
elevated him; because he consecrated the most extraor- 
dinary energies ever conferred upon a mortal to promote 
the prosperity of his country; because he was regardless 
of luxury, and cheerfully endured all toil and all hard- 
ships that he might elevate and bless the masses of man- 
kind; because he had a high sense of honor, revered 
religion, respected the rights of conscience, and nobly 
advocated equality of privileges and the universal broth- 
erhood of man. Such was the true character of Napoleon 
Bonaparte. 

'It has been the endeavor of the author, during the 
progress of the work, not to write one line which, dying, 
he would wish to blot. In that solemn hour it will be a 
solace to him to reflect that he has done what he could 
to rescue one of the greatest and noblest of names from 
unmerited obloquy.' 



